How do you repair a gas stove when it breaks down in the middle of a dish you are whipping up? Or even before you've set that pot atop the burner? Can you determine beforehand if your gas stove has a problem and if that problem is within your (or will require) expert attention?

Compared to electric stoves, most problems with gas stoves are simple, mechanical and may be resolved with a few troubleshooting measures that you can do yourself. To repair a gas stove in your kitchen, you need only keen observation and common sense. Do-it-yourself, self-help, usually works, unless of course if at any time you smell gas, suspect a gas leak, and cannot identify where the leak is coming from. This is the time to get expert help.

On your own, here are a few tips to repair a gas stove:

What do you do when you have clogged burners? Your gas stove's burners have portholes around them through which gas is released and gets to the spark made by the igniter to light a controlled flame. Sometimes you will wonder why your burners are not lighting up even after several tries on your dial. Check out the burner portholes; they may be clogged so that gas cannot escape to reach the igniter. You can remove the burner top and grate, get the burner assembly with the portholes out, and check the clogs. In this case, you need only to clean those portholes, but do it by picking on each porthole with a toothpick or pin, making sure the hole is cleared but not deformed by your picking, brushing the holes to remove any leftover or residue, and then washing or brushing the burner completely. If this does not do it, get expert repair help already.

Can you adjust the flame setting or flame size? Ideally, you should see your stove's flame as bright blue in color and consistently burning. The blue color is the result of the proper mixture of the gas fuel and the surrounding air that assures you that the fuel is being burned efficiently. If the flame is of a yellowish or whitish color, there may be a problem with how the gas ignition is aerated or how air is mixing with the gas fuel. You not only get sooty pans this way; you also run the risk of gas being overly fed into the burner. To adjust the air and gas mixture to the safest and most efficient level, you can adjust the stove's pilot which is a screw valve located behind the control knobs. With a screwdriver, you can turn and adjust this pilot until you get a bluish flame to indicate you've reached the efficient air-gas mixture level.